Improvement in curtain-fixtures



c. BUGKLEY & L. SAW'Y'ER.

Curtain-Fixtufes;

Patented March 30,1875.

M @iii THE GRAPHIC C0.PHOTO.-LlTH.39&4-1 PARK PLACLNY.

GHAUNOEY BUOKLEY AND LODOWIOK L. SAWYER, OF MERIDEN, CONN.

IMPROVEMENT IN CURTAiN-FIXTURES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l6l,47?, dated March 30, 1875; application filed March 18, 187

CASE 1).

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHAUNGEY BUOKLEY and LODOWIGK L. SAWYER, of Meriden, in

the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Curtain-Fixtures; and we do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the let ters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, an end view; Fig. 2, an inside view of the bracket with the ratchetwheel shown in broken lines; and in Fig. 3, a section.

This invention relates to an improvement in the curtain-fixture for which Letters Patent were granted to Chauncey Buckley, one of the applicants in this case, February 18, 1873, embodying certain features of a previous patent, granted July 11, 1871, to Lodowick L. Sawyer, the other applicant in this case, the object being to combine what is known as a pendulum fixture-that is to say, a fixture in which the hold upon the roll is released by drawing upon the cord, and then by slackening the cord the curtain will unroll-with a friction fixturet-hat is, a fixture in which the roll is held by friction upon the pulley, or at one end.

The invention consists in a bracket with an elongated bearing for the pivot of the roll, and with a stationary projection, which engages the toothed friction-plate at one extreme of said elongated bearing, and leaves the frictionplate free at the other extreme, combined with a lever, pivoted to the bracket above the bearin g embracing the pivot, and extending down with an eye below the pulley, through which the cord passes, all as more fully hereinafter described.

A is the bracket; B, the curtain-roll, on the end of which is a pulley, 0. Outside the pulley is a friction-plate, I), with an elastic disk, a, bearing against the friction plate D, and through the said disk and friction-plate D a screw, E, passes, by the turning of which the friction-plate will be pressed with a greater or less force against the pulley. The frictionplate D is made with teeth upon its periphery, as denoted in Figs. 1 and 2. A collar, d, around the neck of the screw forms the bearin g upon which the roll will turn. The bracket A is constructed with an elongated seat, F, into which the roll is set, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, and on the bracket a projection, f,-is made on the inside, so that when the roll is at the extreme back position, asin Fig. 2, the teeth of the plate D will engage the said projection on the bracket, and support the curtain by means of friction between the plate D and the end of the roll; but when the curtain is pulled upon with sufficient force to overcome this friction, the roll will turn and allow the curtain to roll down. When the cord is pulled upon the roll will move forward in the seat F, as to the position denoted in broken lines, Fig. 1, so that the plate D will clear the said projection; then the curtain may be wound by pulling upon the cord, as in the patent of February 18, 1873, before referred to.

In order to adapt this construction, so that the curtain may run down of its own gravity, we attach to the bracket A above the bearing, as at n, a lever, L, which embraces the pivot or axis of the roll, the lower end of the lever terminating in an eye, N, through which the cord P is passed. The natural position of the lever is vertical when the axis of the roll is at the rear extreme of the elongated bearing, and in engagement with the projection f on the bracket; but when the cord is pulled upon, as denoted in broken lines, Fig. 1, thelever will swing out and draw the roll away from its connection with the projection f, as seen in Fig. 1; therefore, if, when the roll is pulled forward, as in Fig. 1, the end be slacked only sufticient to allow the roll to turn, the curtain will run down of its own gravity, and when it has reached the desired position in its descent slack the pull upon the cord, and the roll will pass into engagement with the projection f on the bracket, and its descent be there arrested, thus operating as what is known as a pendulum fixture; but in pendulum-fixtures a pull upon the curtain only cannot turn the roll. Consequently a frequent derangement occurs in use of that fixture by persons not understanding its manipulation. The combination We claim as our invention- The combination of the roll B, bracket A, constructed with the bearing F and projection f, the toothed friction-plate D, and lever L, all constructed and arranged substantially as specified.

OHAUNGEY BUOKLEY. LODOWIOK L. SAWYER.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH H. BEGKETT, RALPH A. PALMER. 

